KLANGHABITAT cassiopeiea User manual

KLANGHABITAT
cassiopeiea & lyra user manual
cassiopeiea & lyra
user manual

KLANGHABITAT
cassiopeiea & lyra user manual
Precautions
WARNING: High Voltage
• Risk of electric shock.
• Refer service to qualified service staff only.
• Do not expose this device to rain or moisture.
• Do not use this device near water, e.g. swimming pool, bathtub or wet basement.
CAUTION: Temperature
• Surfaces of the device may become hot during operation.
• Do not install this device near any heat source such as radiators, stoves or other heat sources.
• Always allow enough ventilation space around the unit for air circulation.
• Do not cover circulation vents.
CAUTION: Connecting & Mounting
• Never connect the output of a power amplifier to this device.
• Place the unit on a rigid board or place it in an appropriate rack.
• Use the device according to this manual only.
CAUTION: Humidity
• If this device is moved from a cold place to a warm room, condensation can occur inside the
device. To avoid damaging the unit, please allow it to reach room temperature before switching it
on.

KLANGHABITAT
cassiopeiea & lyra user manual
The unique sound of tube saturation
You´re about to explore the unique sounds of tube saturation. Cassiopeia & lyra are composed
around vacuum tubes to add the missing bit to a sound source. In order to do so, the vacuum
tubes are driven out of spec, which means in a mode of saturation. The resulting effect is the
creation of overtones and harmonics which are different to transistor or digital approaches; less
sharp but more pleasing.

KLANGHABITAT
cassiopeiea & lyra user manual
Contents
Controls................................................................................................................................. 5
How to use ............................................................................................................................6
How it works..........................................................................................................................6
Technical Details.................................................................................................................10

KLANGHABITAT
cassiopeiea & lyra user manual
CONTROLS
1 SATURATION
Determines how much the vacuum tubes goes into saturation. Clockwise gives more saturation.
2 INTESITY
This control mixes the direct signal with the saturated signal. In full clockwise position, 100 % of
the saturated signal is fed to the output, while in full counterclockwise position just the input sig-
nal is available at the output.
3 OUTPUT
Gives –20 dB in Counterclockwise and + 20 dB in Clockwise position. In center position the out-
put is unity gain.
1
2
3

KLANGHABITAT
cassiopeiea & lyra user manual
HOW TO USE
To use cassiopeiea/lyra all you need to do is run some awesome audio through it. Depending on
the intended result, the most important control is SATURATION control. This control will deter-
mine how the vacuum tube is reacting to the incoming audio signal. The more this dial is turned
clockwise, the more the signal is processed. The tube's backlight will give feedback on how
much the tube reacts during processing.
The outgoing signal depends on the position of the SENSETIVITY dial. The more this dial is
turned clockwise, the more of the processed signal will be forwarded to the output. In case the
dial is fully clockwise, the output will present 100 % of the process path. In most cases, this dial
will be used to dial in the exact amount of processed signal to the output.
Last, the OUTPUT control is used to gain match with devices in the signal chain to operate all
elements at their best performing signal levels.
HOW IT WORKS
Cassiopeiea & lyra make use of the “natural” characteristics of vacuum tubes operated in satura-
tion. In other words, these tubes are operated outside their originally designed specifications.
This is achieved by using the SATURATION potentiometer for the incoming signal. The more this
control is turned clockwise, the less the vacuum tube can operate inside spec. The resulting effect
is beneficial because it creates overtones. The beautiful thing about using tubes in this context is
the reason that clipping occurs in a soft way.
The INTENSITY control gives the option to blend in the saturated signal with the original unpro-
cessed signal. This is very handy in cases where the SATURATION control is cranked up but just
a small amount of the wet signal is beneficial to the output.
The last element needed is the OUTPUT control, which allows the user to give the correct level to
the following device in the entire signal chain.
input signal
output signal
SATURATION
INTENSITY
Y
OUTPUT

KLANGHABITAT
cassiopeiea & lyra user manual

KLANGHABITAT
cassiopeiea & lyra user manual

KLANGHABITAT
cassiopeiea & lyra user manual

KLANGHABITAT
cassiopeiea & lyra user manual
TECHNICAL DETAILS
Frequency response:
<10 Hz –22 kHz
INTENSITY (0 %) THD+N:
@ 0 dBu
@ +10 dBu
0.0031%
0.01 %
INTENSITY (100 %) THD+N:
@ 0 dBu Saturation 0 %
@ 0 dBu Saturation 100 %
0.024 %
26.3 %
Noise floor 20 Hz - 22kHz:
INTENSITY (0 %)
INTENSITY (100 %)
-90 dBu
-88 dBu
Dynamic range, 20 Hz –22 kHz:
Max input level
Max output level
input impedance
output impedance
+20 dBu
+20 dBu
10 kOhm
68 Ohm